Outdoor Voices’s New Limited-Edition Line Is Part Gym Class, Part Art School

Seemingly every activewear brand claims to bridge fitness and fashion, but Outdoor Voices is one of the few labels that someone could walk around in all day without looking like they forgot to get dressed after their elliptical session. In the three years since the label launched, it has made its mark with its chic minimalism—the cuts are deceptively simple, the color palette striking yet subdued. Frank Ocean is a fan, and Charlotte Gainsbourg has called the New York shop “un magasin de vêtements de running que j’adore.”

Now, company founder Tyler Haney is about to release what she calls her “most out-there” line yet: A 22-piece collection of shorts, shirts, and jackets in squiggly prints inspired by the work of cult artist and designer Nathalie Du Pasquier.

French-born, Milan-based Du Pasquier belonged to the ’80s Italian design collective Memphis Group (purportedly named after a Bob Dylan song that was playing at the movement’s first gathering). Beloved by designers the world over, decades later, the Memphis Group’s playful, geometric aesthetic has informed everything from Swatch watches and Pee-wee’s Playhouse to Patagonia vests and Christian Dior’s 2011 haute couture collection.

Haney, 28, learned about Du Pasquier while studying design at Parsons, and has brought her images to inspiration meetings since she started the company. “The Memphis movement was a breath of fresh air, coming after the stark modernism of the 1970s,” Haney says. “I relate to that, because I’m trying to move away from performancewear and approach activity with humor, enjoyment, and delight.”

The new line, whose squiggly patterns call to mind the life-forms that thrive in biology-class petri dishes, is made from a recycled polyester and spandex blend. It’s a limited run, but Haney’s art-school roots are here to stay. She confides that she and her team have their eyes on Franco Fontana, an Italian photographer of abstract landscapes from the ’70s, for next fall.